The present invention relates to switches having virtual networking capability. As the amount of data used in enterprises and organizations grows, reliance on storage area networks (SANs) has been increasing. A networking technique that has grown since the advent of SANs is the concept of creating virtual networks within a SAN. One example of a virtual network is a virtual storage area network or VSAN.
Using VSANs and other virtual network and switch technology, a switch may be segmented or divided into multiple “virtual” or logical switches, each essentially carved out from the ports of the physical switch. In a simple illustration, a company may have four departments and have one physical switch that can be used to implement four virtual switches, each virtual switch creating its own VSAN. This allows the different departments to share the same physical infrastructure and network connections of the company while benefiting from the advantages of maintaining separate virtual networks. A host or storage device will typically only communicate and recognize devices in the same VSAN. A port of a physical switch may correspond to a specific VSAN and host devices connected to ports of the same VSAN can communicate and route data with one another. They are generally unaware of devices and components in other VSAN. Host devices, such as high-end PCs and servers, are becoming more intelligent and sophisticated. However, a connection between a host server device, for example, including all virtual devices and processes within the host, and the switch is operable in only one VSAN. This limits the capabilities of virtual switching technology, such as VSAN, in a network.